Why does the Wolf Howl?
by vkdemon
Summary: In which Derek wants a pack and Lydia provides (GEN One-shot)


**Title:** Why does the Wolf Howl?  
**Authors:** **vkdemon** and **karomeled**  
**Rating:** PG-13  
**Words:** 3 068  
**Characters:** Derek Hale, Erica Reyes, Vernon Boyd, Lydia Martin, Jackson Whittemore, Isaac Lahey  
**Ships:** Gen, Jackson/Lydia, Boyd/Erica, platonic Lydia/Derek  
**Summary:** In which Derek wants a pack and Lydia provides  
**AN: **The information within is based on the information about wolves and their social structure from the Wolf Haven website. It's a fascinating read. Also we have put in our application to join other wonderful authors who will offer fic in support of The Wolf Pack Charity Project. All the information is on my tumblr.

"Jesus Christ. Again?" Erica growled and threw down her magazine in protest. "That has to be the 6th time this weekend. I'm going to freaking kick him!"

Boyd laid a hand on her shoulder and squeezed gently. "I doubt that would help," he said with a teasing smile but his eyes were drawn to the window. Erica was right though, recently Derek started howling with an irritating frequency and none of them knew why.

"I'd be doing something, which is better than just ignoring it. Our Alpha is going off his damned rocker." Erica huffed, but she could feel the tension uncoiling under Boyd's simple touch. "I wish he'd just say what was wrong instead of the brooding. I've actually started to learn the difference between normal Derek brooding and extra special stuff-recently-went-wrong brooding."

"Maybe he's not brooding. Maybe it's just an alpha thing?" Isaac sat up on the coach. "We never actually got to see what it's like to live in a pack until things settled down last month," he said with a shrug.

"It's annoying. And we are more like close roommates." Erica poked Isaac with her feet and settled them on his lap. Erica glanced from her position lounging between Boyd and Isaac toward the redhead. "Lydia, you're a genius, you tell us what's happening."

The redhead looked up from nails she was painting and cocked her head in agreement. "Oh, don't be so flattering. Although in this room, yes, I am." She huffed at her fingers and straightened in the seat. "I hope the irony of you asking a human about the meaning of the most significant communication technique among your kind is not lost on you." She smiled sweetly.

"Just go fix him." Jackson rolled his eyes over her preening. He was also holding the bottle of her nail polish as she applied it.

"I suppose 'fixing' in this case would require volunteering to be his mate and, no, thank you." She made sure to accidentally jab the paintbrush with brightly pink nail polish over his thumb before sticking it to the bottle. "Isn't that why wolves howl?" She arched her eyebrow at the unhuman pack members already knowing they will nod to whatever she said. "Unless they're lost and want to find others."

"But that doesn't make any sense. Derek pretty much threw me off him the one time I tried to kiss him." Erica wrinkled her nose. "And what's the howling for finding us for? We're all right here. He just needs to walk into the house instead of skulking in the woods all evening."

Jackson glared at his thumb and had to endure or suffer further displays of Lydia's wrath. "Not like anyone knows what werewolves do and why. Derek's teaching method leaves a ton to be desired."

"And that's why we should approach the topic when he's calm and simply ask," Boyd cut in. He wrapped an arm over Erica's shoulders, spooning the blonde. "Maybe you're just not his mate, babe." He couldn't help but add with a grin.

"When is he ever calm?" Erica nuzzled into Boyd's broad arms and rubbed her scent across him. "Are you calling me your mate? No way I'm getting a litter put in me, Mister." She tried to be stern but it was so hard to concentrate on when Boyd was cuddling her.

"I absolutely do not volunteer." Jackson immediately opted out of the whole idea. Derek still scared the living shit out of him. And then he caught the weird scrunchy-faced looks Isaac was giving him and the barely repressed smirk from Erica. "... to talk to Derek! Not to get a litter from Boyd. What the hell? I'm a dude."

"Well there are certain species of reptilian..." Erica smirked like the devil herself.

"I hate all of you. Stop quoting Jurassic Park." Jackson huffed and prayed the topic turned away from him.

"Someone has to do it," Isaac stood up and came to the window. He scanned the field before the house. "You know it takes one freaked out tourist to alarm the animal service? Last thing we need are urban legends about bad blood-thirsty wolf surging the forests around Beacon Hill." As if on a command, the howl could be heard again. Isaac winced a little. His instincts were telling him the sound lacked threat or a calling but it still was unsettling to witness. It carried so much... Well, Isaac didn't know much about wolfish emotions yet, but he would say- longing.

"What if he says he needs a mate? I mean who in our group would actually jump him at this point? Last thing any of us want is to have training turn into a fucked up rarely-consensual BDSM session." Erica cringed remembering all the moons Derek put them in chains as they went mad.

Lydia sighed from her corner. "I'm going to take one for the team and ask him to explain. And then I'm going to gloat about out-braving wolves in their own field." She stated simply. The truth was, she would do a lot to keep the Alpha-wannabe from bellowing each evening. Maybe even necromant someone. Because if there was one thing Lydia Martin was sick of, it was hearing the ear-piercing, memories-evoking sound of a howl.

/

Derek stayed out in the woods until he was sure most of the pack would be in their rooms. There had been no threats, no kanima, no elder Argents, and no reason to need to be continually with the pack. The weight of his emotion sunk into him from his waking moment to the moment he fell to sleep. In a house full of pack... he was lonely.

He could smell her perfume from a mile away. As he walked into the living room he spoke.

"Shouldn't you be in bed with Jackson?" The last thing he wanted was his most unstable of betas on the outs with his rock. The comment probably came off more demeaning than he meant it. Everything always did.

"I would, but you see, I had trouble sleeping recently." She started calmly and sat delicately on the man's bed. "What is the meaning of this, Derek? Can't you just pick up someone if it's your breeding season?"

Derek rolled his eyes and let out a huff of air. "I am not in breeding season. Go to bed."

She narrowed her eyes. "So it's not a biology?" Her voice was still calm but deceptively so. "Are you saying you're freaking us all out each evening for funsies?"

"I'm not trying to scare you, Lydia." Derek gritted through his teeth. "I'm not going into heat or whatever strangeness you and Stiles looked up on the internet. It's a wolf thing."

"I'm very much aware it's a wolf thing, Derek," she snapped. "Howling has three main purposes, summoning a pack, orientation in terrain or mating. Now I do realize those woods get confusingly similar after dark but I doubt even you would get lost enough to call for your puppies. If it's not mating or calling a pack, why do you do this?" She stopped to take a breath.

"Enjoying National Geographic on your summer break?" Derek never had done well with confrontation. He stood up straighter, pushing out his chest to seem as large as possible against the pestering. "It's not just those three. That's why a wolf howls alone. It's also for... bonding."

Lydia sent him offended look. She tapped her fingers on her knee impatiently. "Bonding is an instrument of socializing. You're howling alone."

"I shouldn't be..." Derek gave a huff and sat down in the armchair across from her. "I cannot call them to chorus if they don't want to come. I guess you could say I'm searching, for my family. But they're dead. Are we done with the conversation now?"

She looked at him for a moment. "No, we're not done," she decided. "You have a new pack, why don't you invite them to this?" Great, because a chorus of howling wolves is exactly was she wanted to deal with. "Or you know, spend some time with them? In the house? Where you live?" Her voice mocked the possibility of Derek knowing how to domesticate.

"They would need to want to come. They make the choice." Derek snarled at her implications. "I protect them. They can deal with my lone howling. I sleep here."

"Oh, you sleep here. Cute," she snarled right back. "I thought you wanted to bond? How the hell are they supposed to know what you want from them? None even considered joining you because, let's face it, the activity doesn't exactly scream 'fun time with Alpha'."

"They are pack. Humans have taken the howl and made it something frightening. It's not. It never was. It's about pack. Finding a mate means a new pack, finding a current pack, bonding with your family. Why are they afraid?" Derek's teeth ground together. "The only reason to not join the chorus is to be not of the pack."

She rolled her eyes. "No, actually, the reason can also be that it's freaky and weird and need I remind you your pack is made of turned-humans who don't understand the way your inherently werewolfish brain works? Neither do I, by the way." She stared at him like an interesting specimen.

Derek barely contained his claws. The pack had already ripped up enough furniture without him adding to it. "Fine. What do you want to know? You can tell them."

"Is there a way to make you stop?" She said right away. "Find you something else to use as an outlet?"

"I will always need to howl... just not as often." Derek tried to form words around the way his family had run. It had all seemed so flawlessly natural. "It's pack instinct... I still feel like a lone wolf searching."

She leaned in a little, listening. "It's not your fault your pups are too stupid to realize they should be howling with you. Well, to be fair it sort of is- you picked them yourself." She tapped a finger over her bottom lip. "The bottom line is, you should just tell them to come out instead of expecting they'll catch up with you some day."

"I... Don't know... how." The words etched frustration between his eyebrows.

Lydia raised an eyebrow. "With... words?" She looked at him questioningly.

"Didn't talk much. Never talked much even for a wolf." Derek glared at the carpet. "No, most is in the body."

Lydia stared. She never gave werewolves enough thought to realize how different their perception must be from hers. She ruminated over the discovery for a moment until finally voicing the question she had in mind for a while. "How does an... Omega make it clear they want into the pack?"

"They announce their presence in the territory. Usually a howl of... location? More like a reservation?" Derek rolled his beck. "There's no good human word. He lets the pack know he is there. They either run him out or let him enter. They watch an omega, waiting to see if he's worthy. It's... If he wants in he tries to get in. Tries to approach and fight for a place. If the pack doesn't want him they fight him off."

"You've seen it happen, haven't you?" Lydia sat back on the coach and pulled her legs up. "And if the Omega fights their way into the pack, what happens with the man they defeated? You'd just throw them out?"

"No." Derek pulled back in his seat. "We don't throw away family. They just move down in the ranking. And it's not... this is hard to explain. My father and Peter, they were a year apart. So their place was always going back and forth. Come times my father would show more dominance and Peter would rank below, other times Peter would have the upper hand, but on most days for most things it didn't matter. It's not so... there's only a few hard drawn lines."

"Where's Jackson on the ranking now?" The question rushed out too fast to stop it. "Nevermind. Not really relevant," she chastised herself.

"Low." He managed the smallest of smiles.

"Oh." She figured that much. Her own never-to-be-turned status wasn't helping him either probably. It was kind of funny how after two years of being ignored she was finally let in on the big secret just to find out she'd never be 'one of them'.

"So how about you tell the rest to howl with you?" She asked simply, breaking the silence. "Just those words alone and they will already less in the dark about this thing."

"It becomes another order. It can't be that. I've upended their lives enough by being a selfish Alpha. I am... expecting to howl alone."

She rubbed her temple. "It doesn't have to be an order... yes?" Lydia sighed. "Okay, so any Omega can howl? You'd let them in your pack if you heard them? By howling back?"

"In a heartbeat." Derek breathed out instantly.

"Okay then." Lydia stood up and brushed her skirt with sweep of fingers. It was a time to take thing in her own hands. Or lungs. "See you later." Lydia walked out the door leaving the man a parting smile.

Derek watched Lydia go. Somedays he wished she wasn't quite so clever. There were moments she reminded him of Kate's calculations. Thankfully, with Jackson no longer a threat to everyone's safety, Lydia seemed to be more resemblant of Laura, always sneakily helping the pack. The memories pushed at him and with a sigh he stood. He itched to run, to leave and run from the Hale house, from the memories, from the pack who let him howl alone.

His fear of being alone once more was too strong. He slumped down on the armchair. He might as well just pass out here. He'd wake before the pups came downstairs anyway.

/

The girl went downstairs and through the hall, until she walked at the porch and moonlight lightened her hair. It wasn't a full moon yet, but it was quite strong anyway. At night, the forest unfolded around Hale's possessions like a wall, unfathomable and black.

But Lydia wasn't scared. There was a whole pack of wolves behind her, ready to come if she only called. She cleared her throat and cupped her hands around her mouth. "Ah-Whooooooo!" She yelled but it came out as more of a whine than anything howly. Lydia tsked, displeased with herself. She brought the hands up again.

"What the hell was that?!" Jackson's head popped out of the window. He had the most sensitive ears from the whole pack, some weird post-kanima effect apparently. He snorted. "What are you doing down there, ghost-hunting or something?"

Lydia's cheeks heated out in embarrassment. "Jackson Whittemore, get down here and join me or the only movies you'll ever watch will all have Sandra Bullock in them!" She snapped, one hand on a hip, and started tapping the ground impatiently.

"Are you actually trying to howl?" Jackson snorted again and joined her. He placed a hand on her diaphragm and pressed his body against her back. "Try to get the sound to come from your chest not your nose."

She huffed, annoyed. "Maybe you try it then."

Jackson licked his lips, his body ripping into the changed form. the long slide of throat tilted back and he howled. It echoed from the Hale house behind them far into the woods. To Jackson's amazement another wolf voice joined him. Derek's voice wrapped itself around his senses, dropping tension from his shoulders in an instinct he could not explain. The Alpha was watching them both as he walked out onto the porch.

"What the hell is going on?" Erica sat up on her bed and looked at Boyd in surprise. The two of them walked to their bedroom window and opened it, peeking outside. A third howl could be heard as Isaac, changed, run out of the house and shoved at Jackson, obviously teasing him about the strength of his voice.

"I feel like there's a party and we weren't invited," Boyd murmured by her side. She smiled and let her face morph into her wolf form.

"I don't know about you but I'm not letting that go," she said and jumped out, a perfect somersault interrupting her fall to the ground. She dropped on all four and tilted her head back. Her howl was higher pitched and more melodic and beautiful than others. Or maybe Boyd was a complete dazed lost cause. He followed.

Jackson shoved Isaac right back, grinning as the two started to tuffle with each other. Derek's voice held strong as he walked from the woods to his gathered pack. He placed a hand on Boyd's shoulder and smiled. "Howl." Derek's voice was warm as he instructed his beta. "Join your mate's voice."

Boyd caught his eyes and nodded, focusing on the instruction. His howl joined the other's in a wicked chorus that made Lydia clasp hand over her ears in its audibility.

The chorus descended into talking and rubbing against each other. Jackson and Isaac had broken up their play-fight in order to team together to take on Boyd. Derek moved toward Lydia and cupped the back of her neck to bring her close enough that he could whisper in her ear.

"Thank You."

She shivered a little and smiled up at him. "Do I have to fight you now?"

"You'd make a good alpha." He chuckled and kissed her forehead. The pack hadn't seen their alpha smile, really smile until that moment. "But no. You're already pack, Lydia. No need to fight me for your place."

Lydia looked up in sheer surprise. She was pack? Well, look at that. She nodded reflecting his smile and looked at the group with pride over the little development they made tonight. "Yeah. Couple more days like this and you better watch your position." She winked and walked off with a flop of hair.

Derek chuckled as the redhead curled herself around Jackson looking like a cat with cream. Boyd was struggling under the leaner boys. Time to even those odds. Derek let himself do something he hadn't enjoy since the Hale house was fire free and filled with the howl chorus. He lunged toward his betas and played.


End file.
